Israel, which has the largest number of COVID-19 vaccines per capita in the world, warned that a new round of infection may have arrived. According to the data disclosed by the Israeli Ministry of Health, COVID-19 cases 13929 were added on June 20th, up by 59.6% compared with the end of May.
The latest article published in the British medical journal warns that the Omikrongya variant is causing a new round of infection in Britain. Asia is also facing greater risks. Singapore and Indonesia said that they will face a new wave of BA.4 and BA.5 epidemics this summer or autumn. According to media reports, the positive rate in Mumbai, India is as high as 13.88%, which is nearly three times the average level in India.
Recently, three top authoritative journals published consistent serological studies on BA.4 and BA.5 in Omicron, which unanimously confirmed that BA.4 and BA.5 subtypes in Omicron showed stronger immune escape ability, and the plasma of patients infected with BA. 1 in Omicron showed obvious neutralization escape phenomenon.
At the same time as the outbreak of the epidemic, the largest railway strike in 30 years is being staged in Britain, which may add gloom to Britain's economic recovery. On June 2 1, the overseas network quoted the BBC as saying that more than 40,000 railway employees of the British 14 railway operator would go on strike for three days due to the failure of negotiations between the British government and the railway union on salary increase.
Global tension
The more infectious COVID-19 strains, Omicron subtypes BA.4 and BA.5, make the global epidemic more complicated.
Israel, which has the largest number of COVID-19 vaccines per capita in the world, is once again facing the impact of a new round of epidemic, and the Omicron mutant strain BA.5 has become the most mainstream strain.
According to the data disclosed by the Israeli Ministry of Health, there were 3929 new cases of COVID-19/KLOC-0 on June 20th, with a positive detection rate of 27.9%. In late May of this year, the average number of new cases in Israel once fell below 2,000.
Salman Zalka, the top Israeli official in response to COVID-19, said that nearly 50% of COVID-19-infected people carry the variant virus of Omicron BA.5, and the number of hospitalized people is increasing. This means that the Omicron mutant BA.5 has spread all over the local area.
In response, Nachman Ashe, director-general of the Israeli Ministry of Health, warned that a new wave of infection may have arrived in Israel. At the beginning of this epidemic, the Ministry of Health has no plans to restrict large-scale gatherings, but the Ministry of Health is considering re-enforcing the regulations on wearing masks in closed public places.
In the case that BA.5 has an absolute advantage in Israel, Israeli experts said that the possibility of providing a fifth vaccine for the elderly and immunocompromised people should be considered.
At the same time, the epidemic situation in Britain is not optimistic. On June 20th, local time, the British Medical Journal (BMJ) published an article entitled "Omikrongya variety is Promoting a New Wave of Infection in Britain". Data show that the number of confirmed cases in COVID-19, UK surged by 43% last week. According to the infection survey in COVID-19, it is estimated that in the week of June 1 1, 1 is positive for COVID-19 in every 50 English people, while in Scotland, where the infection situation is more serious, 1 case can be detected in every 30 people.
In addition, the latest data released by the National Health Service (NHS) shows that as of June 16, the number of positive cases in COVID-19 surged by 3 1% within one week. The actuarial response team in COVID-19, UK, warned that the growth rate of hospitalized cases in COVID-19 was actually faster than that during the BA.2 epidemic in March, which is worrying.
In Portugal, BA.5 became the main local epidemic strain as early as May this year, and now accounts for 90% of the new cases in the country. According to the report of the European Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the infections of BA.4 and BA.5 have increased in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Ireland.
In addition to Europe and America, Asia is also facing greater risks. On June 20th, Singapore Health Minister Wang Yikang explicitly warned that the country is likely to face a new wave of BA.4 and BA.5 epidemics in July and August this year. Indonesian Health Minister Sadikin also warned that BA.4 and BA.5 will trigger a new wave of epidemic this summer.
According to media reports, the positive rate in Mumbai, India is as high as 13.88%, which is nearly three times the average level in India. The number of hospitalized cases reported in the past 10 days has greatly increased 187%.
In addition, Taiwan Province Province of China is also facing the risk of importing BA.4 and BA.5 from Omicron. On June 2 1 day, Taiwan Province's "China Times News Network" reported that imported cases of Omicron mutants BA.4 and BA.5 were intercepted again at the border of Taiwan Province Province, China, with case *** 17, and the main source country was the United States. Up to now, 65 cases have been intercepted at the border of Taiwan Province Province.
Heavy research conclusions
Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 will replace BA.2. 12. 1 to become the most mainstream strains in the world, and gradually become * * * knowledge.
Recently, three top authoritative journals published consistent serological studies of BA.4 and BA.5 in Omicron, revealing the idea of epidemic prevention against this new strain.
Among them, Cell published an article from Screaton Group, Oxford University, which comprehensively reported the serological characteristics of BA.4 and BA.5. The conclusion of this article is that BA.4 and Ba.5 have more significant immune escape to the serum of the three doses of vaccine, and the neutralization activity is only BA. 1/3; BA.4 and BA.5 have two new mutations, L452R and F486V, which is one of the main reasons for more obvious immune escape.
On June 5th, 2022, the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) published the BA.4/5 serological characteristics of Liu Shansi, a virologist at Ohio State University. The main results are as follows: the neutralizing antibody titers of the two doses of vaccines are 52, 39 and 37, respectively. The doses of the three vaccinations were ba. 1 976, ba. 2 933 and ba. 4/5 647 respectively.
On June 7th, 2022, Peking University Xie Xiaoliang's research was published in Nature. The results showed that the new subtypes of BA.4 and BA.5 in Omicron showed stronger immune escape ability, and the plasma of patients infected with OmicronBA. 1 showed obvious neutralization escape phenomenon.
The first three articles above unanimously confirmed that BA.4 and BA.5 subtypes in Omicron showed stronger immune escape ability.
In addition, for the pathogenicity of BA.4 and BA.5, a preprint study published by researchers from Kumamoto University, Tokyo University and Tokyo Institute of Health at the end of May in BioRxiv showed that hamsters infected with BA.4 and BA.5 had a greater viral load in their lungs.
The researchers believe that this result shows that the virus spread in the lungs of hamsters infected with BA.4 and BA.5 is higher than that of other Omicron varieties. This study has not been peer-reviewed.
Based on the current research conclusions, analysts believe that the main strategy of Omicron to prevent subtypes BA.4 and BA.5 is to continue wearing masks to reduce unnecessary indoor aggregation; Physical isolation of viruses is still an effective method; Vaccination with 3 doses of COVID-19 vaccine is still the most effective way to prevent serious diseases; Use antigen rapid detection kit as soon as symptoms appear, and go to the detection point for nucleic acid detection if necessary.
Strike suddenly
Faced with the epidemic, Britain is holding the largest railway strike in 30 years, which may add a shadow to Britain's economic recovery.
On June 2 1, the overseas network quoted the BBC as saying that more than 40,000 railway employees of the British 14 railway operator would go on strike for three days due to the failure of negotiations between the British government and the railway union on salary increase.
The strike will be held on 2 1, 23/and 25/respectively, which will affect more than 50% of the operation of the British railway network, or will paralyze the British transportation network.
The "fuse" of this general strike was the breakdown of salary negotiations. The British Railway, Shipping and Transportation Union demanded a salary increase of at least 7% to make up for the rising inflation in Britain, but the management only promised a maximum salary increase of 3% and insisted on layoffs. On the evening of June 20, the last round of negotiations between the two sides failed to reach an agreement.
Regarding this general strike, British Prime Minister Johnson said that at present, British enterprises are recovering from the epidemic, and this strike will once again damage the newly recovered enterprises. Strike is a kind of "self-harm", which may undermine Britain's recovery from the epidemic. He called on the trade union to cancel the general strike.
At present, British families are facing the worst economic blow in decades. The soaring domestic food and fuel prices have pushed the inflation rate close to 65,438+00%. The Bank of England even issued a warning of economic recession. It is predicted that the inflation rate will reach 1 1% this autumn, and prices will rise at the fastest rate in 40 years.
In June of 18, a large-scale demonstration broke out in London, England to protest against the soaring cost of living. Thousands of protesters shouted slogans through central London, demanding that the British government take more measures to deal with serious inflation.
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